The Pleistocene of North America / and its vertebrated animals from the states east of the Mississippi River and from the Canadian provinces east of longitude 95°

by Oliver Perry Hay

The length of this tooth, as preserved, is 310 mm. from the base in front to the rear of the talon. There are 12 ridge-plates present, but evidently some are gone from the front. There are 5 of these plates in a 100–mm. line, taken at the middle of their height. Sellards’s statement that his figure is one-fifth the natural size is evidently an error for one-third.

If this tooth belonged to E. columbi and had the usual number of plates, 24, the length would have been near 600 mm., a size not probable. If it belonged to E. imperator, as the writer thinks it did, the original length was somewhere near 450 mm., a more reasonable, but at the same time, an unusual dimension.

4. Everglades.—In the American Museum of Natural History, New York (No. 8068), is a part of a tooth once supposed to belong to the Indian elephant and said to have been mentioned somewhere by the geologist J. D. Dana as having been found in the Everglades. It appears to be well fossilized. It is apparently the second true molar of the right side. There are 12 plates, of which 5 occupy a line 100 mm. long. Some plates are evidently missing from the front. The writer believes that this tooth belongs to Elephas imperator.

5. Arcadia, De Soto County.—In the U. S. National Museum (No. 189) is a part of the left ramus of the lower jaw of an elephant recorded as having been found on Peace Creek. This jaw was collected by J. Fras Le Baron, and in a report made to Professor S. F. Baird in 1881, he indicated that this fossil, with many others which he had sent to the Smithsonian Institution, had been found somewhere along Peace Creek between the mouth of Little Charlie Apopka Creek and tide-water, but the place is no more exactly designated; in any case not many miles away from Arcadia. It, with other Pleistocene fossils, was found in gravel overlying a soft yellow limestone about 4.5 feet thick.

The jaw has been described and figured by Leidy (Trans. Wagner Inst., vol. II, p. 23, plate VIII, fig. 2) as Elephas columbi. He stated that eight of the ridges occupy a space of 6.4 inches. His estimate was, however, made near the grinding-surface of the tooth, where the plates converge. The writer has removed the bone and some of the cement from the inner face of the tooth, so as better to expose the edges of the plates. It is found that four of the enamel plates, with the corresponding cement plates, occupy 100 mm. The plates are too coarse for the tooth to be that of Elephas columbi. The length of the tooth, in a straight line along the base, is 260 mm. Had the tooth originally had 22 plates, a moderate number for E. columbi, the total length would have been 500 mm. or more. Meanwhile, the width is only 85 mm. There are now 12 plates left, and there were at first probably 18. The original length was probably about 400 mm. or less. Leidy thought that the 12 plates present represented the complete number entering into the constitution of the tooth, but the exposure of the base of the tooth in front shows that a number of plates had been worn out and lost.

The species of vertebrates found along Peace River in the vicinity of Arcadia and their geological age are discussed on pages [380]–[381].

6. Palmetto, Manatee County.—From Mr. J. C. Hennessy, of Palmetto, the U. S. National Museum has received a part of a lower left hindermost molar of Elephas imperator, found by him on January 10, 1917, on the north shore of Manatee River, within the corporate limits of Palmetto. The specimen presents seven ridge-plates and part of an eighth. Portions of the tooth are missing from both ends. The distance across five plates is 106 mm. The width across the worn face is 100 mm., the height of the hindermost plate present 150 mm. The enamel is strongly plicated. The tooth certainly belongs to Elephas imperator. The whole length of the tooth in its complete state was about 360 mm. Had it belonged to E. columbi, with 24 plates, the length would have been about 480 mm. (19 inches).

ALABAMA.

(Map [14].)

1. Bogue Chitto, Dallas County.—In the U. S. National Museum is a lower left molar which belongs to this species. It was collected by Lawrence Johnson, of the U. S. Geological Survey. It is worn down to the base in front and some plates have thus disappeared. Parts of seven plates and the hinder talon remain. The width of the grinding-face is 90 mm. At the third plate from the rear the height of the crown is 97 mm. The hinder border of the tooth is obtusely keeled and there are no indications that there was another tooth behind it. It seems necessary, therefore, to regard it as the hindermost molar. The large hinder root was developed, but hollow to contain the pulp. The anterior root is entirely missing. The plates of the crown turn backward strongly. Of these plates there are on the inner face of the tooth hardly four in a 100–mm. line; on the outer face, only four. The enamel is rather strongly folded and of moderate thickness.